Nicolas Mueller of Switzerland defeated Egypt's Mazen Hesham at the PSA Tournament of Champions to set up a tie against world number one Mohamed Elshorbagy ©PSA

Switzerland's Nicolas Mueller defeated Egypt's Mazen Hesham in the first round of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tournament of Champions to set up a tie with world number one Mohamed Elshorbagy.

Mueller beat Hesham 13-11, 11-5, 11-8 in Vanderbilt Hall at New York City's Grand Central Terminal and will now meet another Egyptian in Elshorbagy who received a bye into the second round. 

Elsewhere on a day billed "Wild Wednesday", Todd Harrity of the United States provided an upset in front of a home crowd, with the world number 48 defeating world number 22 Tsz Fung Yip of Hong Kong 6-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-7.

Harrity will now meet New Zealand's Paul Coll in the next round. 

"It's great after all these years, to finally win on this stage, I am just overjoyed by it," he said. 

"In previous years I have just been so excited, so I come out with my heart racing, sort of a deer in the headlights with sensory overload.

"I had some tactics to keep him in the back.

"He likes loose, random stuff, so I tried to keep it disciplined and I was having to go for chances. 

"More than anything, I wanted to relax and just have a good, rich experience on court."

The tournament opened with a marathon match between Mathieu Castagnet of France and George Parker of England which lasted for 137 minutes.

Castagnet eventually won 9-11, 15-13, 12-10, 6-11, 12-10, despite having to leave the court to receive stitches for a cut above his eye. 

The Frenchman now faces Egypt's Fares Dessouky. 

Twenty-one year old wildcard Timmy Brownell of the US proved to be an entertaining competitor on the opening day, going one game up against Egypt's Youssef Soliman in their match.

Soliman overcame this shock to win 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 12-10, however. 

"I think both of us got excited," Soliman said. 

"He was playing with his home crowd. 

"For me it is the first time in the States and playing in this venue is definitely exciting. 

"I was so nervous inside, I was struggling to find a rhythm because he played really well."

Soliman faces a second round clash against England's Daryl Selby. 

Half of the men's second round matches will be played tomorrow, with the other half scheduled for Friday (January 18). 

The women's competition will also begin.

This year's Tournament of Champions is the second most lucrative event of the 2018-2019 PSA World Tour, with a $360,000 (£282,000/€316,000) prize fund split equally between the men's and women's events.